Essential Site Maintenance: Authorea-powered sites will be updated circa 15:00-17:00 Eastern on Tuesday 5 November.
There should be no interruption to normal services, but please contact us at [email protected] in case you face any issues.

loading page

Intra-annual Variation of Eddy Diffusion (k$_{zz}$) in the MLT, from SABER and SCIAMACHY Atomic Oxygen Climatologies
  • +4
  • Gary R. Swenson,
  • Fabio Vargas,
  • McArthur Jones,
  • Yajun Zhu,
  • Martin Kaufmann,
  • Yee Jeng-Hwa,
  • Mlynczak Martin G.
Gary R. Swenson
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Author Profile
Fabio Vargas
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Author Profile
McArthur Jones
United States Naval Research Laboratory
Author Profile
Yajun Zhu
National Space Science Center
Author Profile
Martin Kaufmann
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Author Profile
Yee Jeng-Hwa
Applied Physics Lab. Johns Hopkins University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Mlynczak Martin G.
NASA Langley Research Center
Author Profile

Abstract

Atomic oxygen (O) in the MLT (mesosphere and lower thermosphere) results from a balance between production via photo-dissociation in the lower thermosphere and chemical loss by recombination in the upper mesosphere. The transport of O downward from the lower thermosphere into the mesosphere is preferentially driven by the eddy diffusion process that results from dissipating gravity waves and instabilities. The motivation here is to probe the intra-annual variability of the eddy diffusion coefficient (k$_{zz}$) and eddy velocity in the MLT based on the climatology of the region, initially accomplished by \citeA{GarciaandSolomon1985a}. In the current study, the intra-annual cycle was divided into 26 two-week periods for each of three zones: the northern hemisphere (NH), southern hemisphere (SH), and equatorial (EQ). Sixteen years of SABER (2002-2018) and 10 years of SCIAMACHY (2002-2012) O density measurements, along with NRLMSIS\textsuperscript{\textregistered} 2.0 were used for calculation of atomic oxygen eddy diffusion velocities and fluxes. Our prominent findings include a dominant annual oscillation below 87 km in the NH and SH zones, with a factor of 3-4 variation between winter and summer at 83 km, and a dominant semiannual oscillation at all altitudes in the EQ zone. The measured global average k$_{zz}$ at 96 km lacks the intra-annual variability of upper atmosphere density data deduced by \citeA{Qian2009}. The very large seasonal (and hemispherical) variations in k$_{zz}$ and O densities are important to separate and isolate in satellite analysis and to incorporate in MLT models.
16 Dec 2021Published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres volume 126 issue 23. 10.1029/2021JD035343